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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Although it was a whirlwind of activity, my Christmas was full of fun, laughter and a bit of lazing around the house.I was also able to make a couple cards, but before I share them, I have to brag a little bit about my cute kids. Remember when you were a kid taking that first peek at the presents under the tree? I got to re-live it through my kids. Jack, 6, and Elise, 3, are at the ages when Christmas is so magical. It was so fun to see their reaction to all those presents. In fact, John and I got Elise a doll house this year (Santa brought the furniture). John assembled it the night before Christmas and put it under the tree with a big bow. I have never seen anyone so excited!! She was jumping up and down, screaming, giggling, flailing her arms. It was so awesome!! We have it on video and I may post it later. It's so stinkin' cute!!

Despite all the fun and chaos, I was able to crank out a few cards for the Joy's Life DT challenge to create a card with doilies and glitter. And, better yet, I got to play with one of the new toys I got for Christmas - the L Letterpress by Lifestyle Crafts. It's a kit that enables crafters like us to do letterpress with our die cut machines. It works with most machines. I used my Cuttlebug.

To me, nothing screams doilies and glitter this time of year more than snowflakes, which are basically glitter-filled doilies created by God! I chose the "Thank You Snow Much" sentiment from the new Wintery puns set. After all, I have to send thank you cards for all the wonderful presents we received!! Plus, did you know January is National Thank You month? It's true!

I created the circular patterned paper with the letterpress. If you look closely, you can see the impressions in the paper. The striped paper is from Bo Bunny's Snowfall Collection. I found a die cut snowflake in my stash and the smaller flakes are embellies from Recollections.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Hello everyone. Today the Joy's Life design team created some more goodies for you and Christmas isn't for another 11 days! Though we are coming down to crunch time with less than two weeks left to shop for the perfect gift, bake several dozen cookies and finalize all the other preparations, it's important to take a few minutes to remember the loved ones in our lives - the people with whom we'll be spending Christmas and the reason why we are shopping, baking, preparing ...

Most of us spend this special day with our families, which is why the design team is focusing on families today. I made a Christmas card with a picture of my family on it. So many Christmas cards these days are photo cards with cute pictures of the family. As a cardmaker, I can't justify buying photo cards when I have a huuuuuuge stash of paper, stamps, ink, embellies, ribbons, etc., but I can hand create some photo cards. Here is an example of one of the photo cards I made:

I used the Happy Hollydays sentiment from the new Wintery Puns set. I love the little sprigs of holly around the sentiment. It adds a nice touch and turns the sentiment into a design.

I hope you have a "Happy Hollyday" with your family and may God bless you richly throughout 2012!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Hiya everyone!! First, I want to say a humungous thank you to everyone who stopped by for the Joy's Life blog hop. I made a lot of new blogging buddies and got the chance to give away a prize. I wish I could give everyone prizes, but unfortunately, my budget doesn't allow for it.

I've had this idea in my head for a while to use the Papertrey Ink Dot Spots for a Christmas card. I mean, look at them. They look like they could be snowflakes, ornaments or even Christmas bulbs. When I saw the Trigger Target inspiration photo (below), I knew exactly what to do!! Instead of making ornaments, I thought I would go in a little different direction. Instead I made a wreath. However, I still drew a lot of inspiration from the photo.

Trigger Target: Deck the Halls

I stamped the images in the same colors as the ornaments. You'll also notice that the ornaments in the photo are different sizes. Well, they're the same size, but when you take perspective into account, the closer ornaments look bigger and the farther away ones look smaller.

I was also inspired by the rustic wood background in the photo. I made a rustic-looking door for the wreath by stamping my Unity Wood background stamp onto some gray paper, cutting it into strips, and distressing the edges. The door knob was one of those beautiful moment when you look in your stash for something and then you come across the perfect thing. The door knob is a Tim Holtz brad I bought a while ago. I bought a pack for another project and had a few leftover. I'm glad I was able to use one again!! Look at it. It has rustic all over it!

The sentiment is from Joy's Life (of course). It's one from the new Wintery Puns set.

I had so much fun making a wreath with the Dot Spot set that I made another one!! Did I mention that the Papertrey Ink Dot Spot set was one of my faves. I loooove it so much!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

All I can say is WOW! I feel so blessed that so many of you took the time to visit my blog and leave so many flattering comments. In fact, to show my appreciation, I made you all a card.

I used Joy's Life Wintery Puns sentiment (of course) for this card. I thought it was appropriate!! The penguin is an oldie but a goodie from the (now defunct) Angel Company. I stamped it with Memento ink and colored him with Copics. Then, I cut him out and popped him up with dimensional foam stickers. I stamped it again, but only colored his feet, cut them out and layered them on top of the first image with dimensional stickers. The paper is another oldie from DCWV. I drew the snow hills and cut them out.

Many of you asked about the "snow" in the other card. It is a product called Flower Soft. The color is Polar Fleece. You can find it at several scrapbook stores. It works like glitter. Just put clear drying glue on the area and sprinkle the "snow" on top.

You've all been waiting so patiently to find out who won the stamp set. I used Random.org to pick the winner. There were 26 posters who were eligible for the drawing. (Some comments were from fellow DT members, so I weeded them out.)

Friday, December 2, 2011

Hello crafty friends!! I'm so excited to participate in my first Joy's Life blog hop featuring holiday cards. If you're participating in the hop, you should have come from Anne's blog. If you stumbled upon my blog in some other way, I invite you to join in on all the fun. Click here to be taken to Joy's Life, where the blog hopping fun begins. Many of us are having giveaways, so you won't want to miss out on your chance to win free stuff!!

We're all using the latest and greatest release of Joy's Life stamps - the Wintery Puns set. I chose the sentiment "Orna-ment for eachother." Isn't that the cutest little phrase!?! You too, can be the proud owner of this or another Joy's Life stamp set because ...

I'm hosting a giveaway!

You heard read it here! All you have to do is become a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me which Joy's Life stamp set you want and why you like it. If you're already a follower, all you have to do is leave a comment. One lucky winner will receive one Joy's Life stamp set of their choice.

Added on 12/3: The giveaway ends on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 9:30 p.m. EST. I will use random.org to generate an eligible winner, who will be announced on my blog. Thanks and good luck!

Thanks for stopping by. Below is the order of the blog hop. Christine is the next stop and she has a cute card to share!!

About Me

I am a devoted Christian and SAHM to two great kids. In my previous life, I did public relations for 10 years. Then I got married and became a mom. That was it. I wanted to be with my kids. I am so blessed to also have an awesome DH, too!
My interest in cards began in 2003 when my husband and I received a beautiful handmade wedding card. It felt so great to receive something custom made. I hope my cards bless others in the same way that wedding card blessed me and my husband. Enjoy!